Boot-fobm



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N4 PETERS, PHOTO-UTHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. D. C4

- rial cut by other methods.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

JOHN CHILCOTT AND ROBERT SNELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Boor-FORM.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 12,670, dated April 10, 1855.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, JOHN CHILCOTT and ROBERT SNELL, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful instrument, which we denominate a Former, and which is intended to be used as a mold or block on which to fold a piece of leather of suitable shape in a suitable manner to form the whole upper of a boot without the usual process of crimping or stretching; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a side View of the former. Fig. 2, is a front view, and Fig. 3, a top view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This instrument is intended more particularly to be employed in forming the uppers of boots, without crimping of one piece of leather or other material, cut out according to the method for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to us on the 18th day of September 1853; but, it may also serve to form boot-s, without crimping, from leather or other mate- I It constitutes a variable mold or block, which can be adjusted and varied in its size and proportions, so that the whole of the uppers of boots of various sizes, to suit feet and legs of different shapes, may be formed by simply lapping the material from which they are to be made, around it, and securing the necessary parts together, and it is applicable to the manufacture of boots of materials which are of a perfectly unyielding nature. It resembles, in some measure, in external appearance, some machines which have been employed for crimping the fronts of boots, but the ofice of those machines is to stretch the leather or material into the desired form, which operation requires the application of very great force, and can only be performed on leather or other material of a similar yielding nature, and therefo-reis widely different to the oiiice of the former, which is not required to stretch the material.

Our invention relates to the means by which the leather or material is secured to the mold or block during the processes of lapping it thereon, and making t-he seams.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and'use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and'operation.

The variable mold consists principally of a front piece, A, a back piece, B, a calf piece, C, and a heel piece, D, all made of hard wood of about vone inch in thickness. The front piece has its front side or edge, a, so formed as to represent the prolile of the front of a leg, and top of a foot, and is rounded off, so as to have no sharp corners, but its back edge, a, is perfectly straight. The back piece, B, has its front side, 7), straightlike the back side of the front piece; and its back side, which is rounded off, represents, with the addition of the calf piece, C, and heel piece, D, which are attached to it, the profile of the back of the leg and heel. It has thin metal cheek pieces, c, c, screwed to it, one on each side, to form a groove or recess to receive the back part of the front piece, A, which is capable of sliding freely between the said cheek pieces. The calf piece, C, which represents the profile of the calf, is hinged to the back piece at (Z, (Fig. l), and the heel piece, D, which represents the profile of the heel, slides into the bottom part of it, with a tongue and groove, either of parallel or dovetail form. f,

The back piece and front piece are adjustable nearer to, or farther from each other, both at top and bottom, soas to make a mold for a boot fit for a` larger or smaller leg, or for a leg larger or smaller at the upper or lower part, by two screws, F, and G, the former of which works in a female screw in the upper part of the front piece, and bears upon the front of the back piece, and the latter works in a female screw in the lower part of the back piece, and bears upon the back of the front piece. These two screws serve to keep the back piece and front piece at a proper distance apart, while the material lapped around the mold confines the one to the other. The calf piece, C, is adjustable relatively to the back piece according to the required size or degree of protuberance of the calf, by means of the screw, H, which works in a female screw in the calf piece, and bears against the back of the'back piece.

Instead of the hinged calf piece shown,

`ent distances.

the instrument may be furnished with a number of calf pieces of different sizes, which may slide into the back piece with a dovetail, and either one be inserted according to the size required. A number of heel pieces, of diii'erent sizes, will also be required, either of which may be inserted in the back piece, according to the required size or degree of prot-uberance of the heel. The front and back pieces are adjustable at different relative heights as well as at diii'er- That part of the front piece which represents the foot, is intended to be long enough for the longest boot required; and the instep part, e, may be made higher as required, by fitting and securing loose pieces to it as is commonly done to the instep parts of lasts. The front piece, back piece, and calf piece, when all allowed to come close together, are intended to make a mold or block small enough for a small sized leg; but when expanded, to make one large enough for a large sized leg.

When the former is required to be put in shape for a boot of any given size, the measurement of the foot is first ascertained in the usual manner; and the front piece, back piece, and calf piece, are adjusted, and a proper heel piece applied, to make the prole of the mold or block represent Athe form that would be shown by one half or side of the required upper when folded, but to make a proper allowance for the thickness of wood of which the mold or block is made.

The appendages by which the material is secured to the former, during the processes of lapping it around, and making the seam, consist of a clamp,E, and two clamps, I, I. The former clamp, E, consists of along light strip of hard wood of a. length suilicient to reach from what is termed the nick, at f, to the top of the front piece. It is of such sectional form as shown in Fig. 3, as to it into a recess prepared for it in the front piece on one side the center of the front side, and to present the same form externally that part on the other side the center. It is held in place, at its lower end, by entering a recess made in the nick, of the form shown in dotted lines at g, in Fig. 2, which prevents it being` pulled out laterally, and is secured at top by a small metal latch, 7L, which turns freely on a pin attaching it at one end to the top of the front piece, and has a notch on one side of the opposite end, which catches a small pin, z', on the top of the strip.

The inside of the strip is ridged and furrowed from end, to end and the face of the recess in which it is received, is ridged and furrowed to correspond, for the purpose. of holding the material more securely. The clamps, I, I, consist of heavier strips of wood than E, and fit to the outside of the fro-nt piece, and partly cover the clamp, E. They extend from the top of the front piece downward to a little below the nick; one forming a continuation of the other. They are attached to the ends of two screws, K, K, which iit in female screws in an upright wooden rod, L, which rod is attached irmly by' a screw or otherwise, at its lower end, to a small post, M, which stands out from the bottom part of the front piece; the upper end of the said rod being' attached to the top of the front piece by a metal plate, I), which is secured rmly to it in any suitable way, and is secured to the top of the front piece, by a screw, N, which is capable of being taken out to allow the top of the rod to be detached from the front piece. The clamps, I, I, are kept in their proper position, by pins, j, y', which are attached to them, and work easily in holes in the rod, L; and their faces are ridged and iturrowed to take irm hold of the material.

The operation of forming a boot with this instrument, is conducted in the following manner. The several parts of the mold are adjusted in the manner hereinbefore directed. The clamps, I, I, are drawn away from the front piece, by the screws, K, K, and the clamp, E, is taken out by unfastening the latch, h, and lifting the bottom end from the recess, g. The piece of leather or other material of which the boot is to be made having been cut as directed in the spec-iiication of our Letters Patent, before referred to, is then applied so as to place the edge, Z2, (see Fig. 3, where, as well as in the other figures the boot is represented on the instrument in red color), which forms one side of the front seam, lengthwise in the recess which receives the clamp, E. The clamp, E, is then putin its place, and secured by its latch, 7L, to hold the edge, 7c, secure, while the piece is lap ed as tightly as possible around the mold, Iby land. When the piece is lapped round, the edge, Z, and the part immediately behind it, which is intended to overlap the edge, 7c, is brought under the clamps, I, I, which are then screwed up to it to hold it secure.

That part of the material which forms the foot of the boot is drawn tight over the instep of the former by nippers provided for the purpose, or by any suitable means. The part, m, which makes the double heel, is then secured to the part over which it laps, either permanently, by cement, or temporarily, by some other adhesive material. The clamps, I, I, are then slackened off, sufficiently to allow the clamp, E, to be withdrawn, longitudinally, from its place, and after that clamp has been withdrawn, it is again inserted; but this time, instead of being outside the edge, K, it is inserted inside of it, so as to bring the said edge outward into close contact with the part, Z,

which is to overlap it. Enough lap may be left at Z, to enable the parts to be united by applying cement or adhesive material, while the clamps, I, I, are both made to grasp it, and hold the parts together, or, one clamp may be released at a time while the other is tight, to enable the cement or other material to be applied to unite the parts. "When the seams are intended to be formed by stitching, the stitching is not done till the upper is taken from the former, the cement or adhesive material, which is applied when on the former, serving to hold the parts together until they can be stitched.

The former 7 may be slightly expanded by the screws, after the material is folded upon it for the lpurpose of tightening the upper upon it, or drawing out puckers, but is never required to stretch the material.

The former is taken from the upper, after the latter is formed, by first unscrewing t-he screws, F, and Gr, to loosen the front and back pieces, taking out the screw, G, and then drawing out the heel piece, after which the back piece may be drawn upward. The clamps, I, I, are then slackened, and the screw, N, taken entirly out, to allow the plate, P, to be detached from the front piece, to allow the Jfrontpiece` to be drawn downward through the upper rl`he bottom connection of the rod, L, must be such as will admit of the necessary movement of the top end of the rod to allow the plate, l?, to work clear of the fro-nt piece. In order to enable the upper of the boot to be taken from the former, it is absolutely necessary that the heel piece should consist of a separate piece, capable of being entirely detached from the back piece, or the back piece could not be drawn upward from the upper and the only practicable way of detaching the back piece is by drawing it downard, in order to do which, it must be" itted to slide upward anddownward in a groove in the back piece as described,

It is not intended absolutely to make one former serve for boots of every size, but the same one will serve for sizes which differ very considerably.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

l. The inner clamp, E, fitted to a recess in the front piece, A, substantially as described, so that its exterior presents the desired surface for a part of the front piece, whereby after having held the iirst edge of the front seam of the leg secure to the front piece, A, till the whole piece of inaterial is lapped to the proper form, it may be drawn out lengthwise, and re-inserted viously held, and thus throw out the said edge and part of the material immediately behind it, into contact with that part of the material which overlaps, and is to be united to it to make the seam.

2. The exterior clamps, I, I, attached to screws, K, K, working in an upright, L, which is attached to the front piece, A, sub stantially as described, in a suitable position for the clamps to hold the two parts Vof the front seam together, and in such al manner that the top part can be easily detached from the front piece, A, to allow the said front piece to be taken from the upper.

JOHN CHILCOTT. ROBERT SNELL. Vitnesses:

S. H. WALES, JNO. WV. HAMILTON.

in the front piece inside the edge it prey 

